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[jman2050]

Wouldn't this mean that game critics also don't understand the market or the industry?

Did they ever?

They never did. Which is why review scores were, from the beginning, entirely worthless.

 

[apana]

I don't know how to phrase this, but I think this thread shows Nintendo doesn't need Zelda as a holiday title. I mean when you think about it Donkey Kong Country probably wouldn't have been most people's ideal choice for a holiday title before the success of New Super Mario Bros wii.

Nintendo had a stellar holiday season without a title with Mario in it and without a title with the word Wii in it (what the hell happened to Wii Party anyhow)

I think Nintendo doesn't need to rely on Mario and Zelda as much as they did during the Cube era.

The original Donkey Kong Country sold better than any Zelda game ever. They already avoided using Zelda by sending out DKCR this christmas, they can't just send out someone from the B or C list for the holidays.

 

[kswiston]

Unit sales overall I suppose it did not, however, so far it had >15% decrease in sales while competing with apparently only one other big software release which was Black Ops, benefit of releasing during the holiday sales period, first new entry of the series on current hardware, and had close to the same number of days on sale as its predecessor.

Don't you think this is a tad skewed?

Take a look at the NPD charts posted for Feb and Mar 2005 a couple pages back. You mention that GT5 "only" had one other big release to compete with. That big release probably sold over 4M copies on the PS3 alone in November and December. There were no big releases during the first two months of GT4's release. Sure, God of War eventually became a juggernaut, but it launched small. Aside from GT4, MVP Baseball 2005 was the top selling game when combining those months, and that didn't even reach 500k.

Games likely to have sold over 500k in Nov-Dec 2010 combined (PS3 only)

- Call of Duty Black Ops (4.25-4.5M? Overall the game is >12M LTD and the PS3 version counted for 37% of that in November)
- Assassin's Creed Brotherhood (At least 700k if the breakdown btw PS3 and 360 was the same as Assassin's Creed 2)
- Need For Speed Hot Pursuit (PS3 edged out 360 version in Dec with 203k sales. Even if it only claimed 40% of sales in Dec, it is at 575k)
- Madden NFL 11 (PS3 and 360 versions were almost equal in their first month. 40% of sales in Nov and Dec for PS3 version gives it at least 530k)

NBA 2k11 may be close depending on the breakdown as well. And all of the above is ignoring the fact that plenty of people own more than one system, and that PS3 games compete with 360/Wii/DS/etc games for a limited amount of consumer dollars.

GT5 had way more competition than GT4 did in its first two months, but did have the holiday effect. You can make up your mind as to which one is a bigger benefit, but it is silly to pretend that GT5 barely had any competition when the top 5 games not named GT5 sold 6M+ units of software on the PS3 alone in those two months.

As for the "First entry" effect. I don't think that counts for as much as people make it seem. The PS1 entries were basically equal in sales in North America according to PD's shipment data. GT3 was released 8-9 months after the launch of the PS2, was heavily bundled early on, and was the PS2's first killer app (before that, the PS2s "big" sellers were things like Tekken Tag and Onimusha). Not only was there a lot more to choose from on the PS2 when GT4 was finally released, but it's critical reception wasn't nearly as good as it was for the first 3 games.

GT5 is much the same. Heavily delayed. Good, but not stellar reviews. Launching late in the life of the PS3 meaning gamers have more to choose from. That said, it's still the second best debut for a first party game on the PS3 (behind God of War 3), and it is one of the better debuts for a Sony game period. Sony titles never had huge openings. But they do tend to have long legs.

I personally don't think it bombed or flopped in America but a huge IP continuing to trend downwards in two significant regions shouldn't be ignored or shrugged off with 'it still sold well enough'. Maybe it's too late to change the trend but that's something else entirely.

It's too early to compare GT4 and GT5 sales in North America. So far they are comparable, if not slightly down. And considering the state of the PS3 vs the PS2 in the US, reaching GT3 numbers was always impossible unless they choose to make the game a pack-in for every system released during the next 18-24 months.

 

[Mockingbird]

FWIW since I've been name-called, here's a list of non-budgetware/non-shovelware third party Wii exclusives, or multiplatform games where the Wii version could conceivably be the one to get based on unique / exclusive features:

The Conduit 2 - February 2011
TrackMania Wii - February 2011

...

...




...

And the possibilities for distant support, titles to be localized, etc:
The Kore Gang - out in EU, no publisher in US, unlikely to come to US
Earth Seeker - Not announced for US release
Milestone Shooting Collection 2 - Not announced for US release
Inazuma Eleven Strikers - Not announced for US release.
Ikenie No Yoru (Balance board controller horror game by Marvelous) - Not announced for US release.
Dragon Quest Monster Battle Road - Not announced for US release
Dragon Quest X - 2011? 2012? Who knows.

The Grinder - I'll be very generous here. The current state of affairs is that we have a game that is supposed a multiplayer co-op horror FPS, that was Wii exclusive, then was PS360Wii, then was a Gauntlet style topdown game on the PS360 while remaining a multiplayer co-op horror FPS on the Wii. It's pretty generous of me to incude this here, since it's pretty clear no one has a clue what's going on with this.


Don't believe me? Check Amazon. Check GameFly. Check GameFAQs. Name a publisher and then check their release list. This is it. There's of course a handful of decent multiplatform titles (next up: You Don't Know Jack! <-- I'll be getting this for 360 on the grounds that I have 4 controllers for both Wii and 360 and the 360 version is, frankly, likely to be better and have a better chance at DLC support)

You forgot Samurai Warriors 3 Moushouden. It should be different enough from the PS3 version.

What of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games 3 for Wii? Sega's the publisher.

 

[Boney]

Well care to tell me what that holiday 2011 game could be if it's not Zelda? We at least knew that Retro or Project Sora were working on something. People had speculated on Donkey Kong and Kic Icarus revivals also. Pikmin/Starfox/Diddy Kong Racing probably couldn't be a holiday game. Wii Relax is a definite possiblity but Nintendo would need to balance it with a "core" game.

Retro and Sora won't have anything for holiday 2011 on Wii. They've got plenty of B titles like Rhythm Heaven, Fatal Frame, Last Story and Mario Sports. And I'm sure plenty of new stuff will come out at E3 just like it did last year.

And sweet jesus at that graph.

 

[onipex]

The original Donkey Kong Country sold better than any Zelda game ever. They already avoided using Zelda by sending out DKCR this christmas, they can't just send out someone from the B or C list for the holidays.

Could be Pac-Man vs. for all we know.

 

[kame-sennin]

Wouldn't this mean that game critics also don't understand the market or the industry?

Not necessarily. The problem with metacritic is that the review scores are derived from the most avid core gamers. They represent the most demanding customers in the entire market. Developers and publishers value their reviews because they know that satisfying the most demanding customers usually means that the rest of the market will be satisfied as well. The problem is that in any industry, the needs of the most demanding customers eventually overshoot the needs of the least demanding customers. They demand features that the rest of the market either doesn't care about, or worse, finds to complex to use. Further, many products that would please the low-end of the market simply do not meet the standards of demanding customers, and thus are considered to be low quality.

The problem is that, in most markets, the low-end makes up the majority of the market, so following your best customers can lead you off a cliff. The metacritic score for Wii Sports is 76, yet Wii Sports is the biggest killer app of the generation - perhaps of any generation. If we went by general customer excitement, the score would be in the high 90s. But because Wii Sports was designed for low-end customers, it fails to meet the demands of high-end game reviewers (simple graphics, no character movement control, no online, ect). There's nothing wrong with developers and publishers using metacritic when designing games for their most demanding customers. But if they want to make games with mass appeal, especially games on Wii for low-end customers, then they should understand that game reviewers are simply not qualified to make an accurate assessment of the game's marketability. It doesn't mean that the Wii market is "unpredictable", it means that the needs of game reviewers does not reflect the needs of the Wii market.

 

[pgtl_10]

Most Mario games do sell pretty well. That doesn't really explain why Mario Kart is so popular though.

Maroikart is simple, fun, easy to get into and if you work with it you'll master it. It really the predecessor to Smash in concept.

Also those posts comparing GT to Mariokart. From my understanding Mariokart was either the best selling GCN or one of the best. Officially it outsold Melee but I'm not sure if it counts bundles.

 

[SapientWolf]

They never did. Which is why review scores were, from the beginning, entirely worthless.

Depends on the context. Games intended for the core that metacrit below the 80s rarely become hits.

 

[Aaron Strife]

What of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games 3 for Wii? Sega's the publisher.

Didn't Sega say the next Mario & Sonic won't be an Olympics offshoot?

If it isn't a platformer they're blowing a huge opportunity.

 

[duk]

Wow at updated Kinect/Move numbers. Move needs some serious help or it'll be dead soon.

 

[Rush2thestart]

Didn't Sega say the next Mario & Sonic won't be an Olympics offshoot?

If it isn't a platformer they're blowing a huge opportunity.

I beg to differ. A platformer is easy for Sega to screw up and its going to be even harder implementing both styles of platforming into one game. Thats also ignoring the fact that going into mainline Mario turf might not sit well with Nintendo.

I think a Kart Racer has much more potential considering Sega nailed that with All-Stars Racing and the fact that Mario Kart Wii is such a humongous seller.

Speaking of Sonic, any word on how it did in December? If not, what about Goldeneye or Kirby? =D

 

[MYE]

I dont want that blue piece of shit tainting my Mario platformers.

FUCK OFF SONIC

 

[Maxwell House]

No one with a clue outside of console fanboy wankery considered Kinect and Move in direct competition with one another, or that Move would come anywhere close competing with Kinect even in a vague way. The fact that MS keeps harping on it just comes off as immature as hell.

Both of those assertions are completely false. Of course the Move and Kinect are in direct competition. They are both new motion control systems released at the same time for competing systems. They couldn't possibly be MORE in direct competition than they are.

And believe me, before either accessory came out, at least half the posters on this board thought Move would outsell Kinect over their lifetimes. Some people were even scoffing at the idea that Kinect could even compete with Move. Check the prediction threads on this forum about Move vs Kinect before they came out to see for yourself.. The predictions are hilarious.

 

[RurouniZel]

Not necessarily. The problem with metacritic is that the review scores are derived from the most avid core gamers. They represent the most demanding customers in the entire market. Developers and publishers value their reviews because they know that satisfying the most demanding customers usually means that the rest of the market will be satisfied as well. The problem is that in any industry, the needs of the most demanding customers eventually overshoot the needs of the least demanding customers. They demand features that the rest of the market either doesn't care about, or worse, finds to complex to use. Further, many products that would please the low-end of the market simply do not meet the standards of demanding customers, and thus are considered to be low quality.

The problem is that, in most markets, the low-end makes up the majority of the market, so following your best customers can lead you off a cliff. The metacritic score for Wii Sports is 76, yet Wii Sports is the biggest killer app of the generation - perhaps of any generation. If we went by general customer excitement, the score would be in the high 90s. But because Wii Sports was designed for low-end customers, it fails to meet the demands of high-end game reviewers (simple graphics, no character movement control, no online, ect). There's nothing wrong with developers and publishers using metacritic when designing games for their most demanding customers. But if they want to make games with mass appeal, especially games on Wii for low-end customers, then they should understand that game reviewers are simply not qualified to make an accurate assessment of the game's marketability. It doesn't mean that the Wii market is "unpredictable", it means that the needs of game reviewers does not reflect the needs of the Wii market.

I haven't been able to put into words these thoughts; not anywhere near as perfectly as you just have. That's a major part of the problem with reviews these days; they dock points off of games if they don't have certain features, like a game can't possibly be good unless it meets a magic checklist of things that every game must have simply because. It's become far too specialized. It's hardcore fans reviewing for hardcore gamers, and no one else. It's too far into it's own bubble to see that not everyone that plays videogames is a connoisseur.

 

[FINALFANTASYDOG]

They should have rebadged a ton of the japan market 360 units to america. Of course, that might have only amounted to like a hundred thousand units but that would be a hundred thousand more sales.

They actually did this, Kinect has no stock at wholesales here(In Japan) and used copies go for the same price as new copies, it certainly isn't because of amazing sales though.

 

[wazoo]

I don't know how to phrase this, but I think this thread shows Nintendo doesn't need Zelda as a holiday title. I mean when you think about it Donkey Kong Country probably wouldn't have been most people's ideal choice for a holiday title before the success of New Super Mario Bros wii.

Sony left the market for platform games wide open. There is still a market for this as DKCR shows it.

Nintendo had a stellar holiday season without a title with Mario in it and without a title with the word Wii in it (what the hell happened to Wii Party anyhow)

Wii party is around 5M copies sold. It is constantly in the top3 sales in Europe. i expect it to slowly go to 10M next year.

 

[Snuggles]

I dont want that blue piece of shit tainting my Mario platformers.

FUCK OFF SONIC

Speaking of Sonic, have we heard anything about Sonic Colours sales?

I still haven't played it yet :/

 

[itxaka]

"About one fifth of PS3 sales included bundles with Sony’s Move controller, suggesting a modest third month (we have chosen not to subscribe to peripheral data). About half of Xbox 360 sales included bundles with Microsoft’s Kinect peripheral, as Xbox 360 Kinect console bundles outsold PS3 Move console bundles by 5:1," Pachter said.

"Microsoft announced that it has shipped 8 million Kinect units since launch (in November), which was raised from its earlier goal of 5 million. More significantly, in our view, the top two selling Kinect software titles outsold the top two Move titles by over 13:1."

wow. I expected Kinect to success but I didn't expect it to do so good. MS has a hit in their hands if they manage it correctly. Can they do it?

Has any other games aparts from launch ones, appear for Kinect? Seems like the market is there but it needs a more steady releases. Only the launch games are out in the last 2 months aren't they?

 

[Cipherr]

wow. I expected Kinect to success but I didn't expect it to do so good. MS has a hit in their hands if they manage it correctly. Can they do it?

Has any other games aparts from launch ones, appear for Kinect? Seems like the market is there but it needs a more steady releases. Only the launch games are out in the last 2 months aren't they?

Yes, but, I think we should remember as evidenced by the Wii, this market likely wont chew through the games as fast as the core. Its the hardcore gamer in you calling for new titles to sustain this when its only 2 months old. This sect of new gamers will ride these casual launch window titles for a longer time that you may be expecting imo.

Its all just so hilarious, I expected kinect to bomb so goddamn hard. <3 broken search

 

[wazoo]

Retro and Sora won't have anything for holiday 2011 on Wii. They've got plenty of B titles like Rhythm Heaven, Fatal Frame, Last Story and Mario Sports. And I'm sure plenty of new stuff will come out at E3 just like it did last year.

And sweet jesus at that graph.

I expect XenoBlade and Last Story to come, at least in Europe. Trauma Team is still missing here as well, as Arc Rise Fantasia. They could fill the release. Mario and Sonic 3 is almost a given. A new FPS game by Eurocom could appear at E3.

 

[Gadfly]

No one with a clue outside of console fanboy wankery considered Kinect and Move in direct competition with one another, or that Move would come anywhere close competing with Kinect even in a vague way. The fact that MS keeps harping on it just comes off as immature as hell.

you seem to have forgotten Kevin Butler's ads.

 

[szaromir]

I didn't see MS mentioning Move in their PR releases? How are they harping on it?

 

[cr_blah_blah]

I didn't see MS mentioning Move in their PR releases? How are they harping on it?

It was addressed on the same page as the original post, but the guy was taking Pachter quotes as Microsoft quotes for some reason.

 

[Stumpokapow]

You forgot Samurai Warriors 3 Moushouden. It should be different enough from the PS3 version.

I can include this if you want, but as far as I can tell it isn't actually different than the PS3 version + it will likely either go unlocalized or Nintendo will localize it. As I understand it, the PS3 version is the Wii version of SW3 + SW3M + in HD - the content that Nintendo worked on. Andrisang informs me that the Wii version specifically has a mode designed to mix and match content between SW3 and SW3M, but I'd assume that functionality exists on the PS3 version by virtue of it being a single disc.

If you feel I've inadequately considered it, I'd be happy to add it to the list.

What of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games 3 for Wii? Sega's the publisher.

Nintendo is the publisher in some regions, Sega in others. I don't include it because it's not in any meaningful way a third party game, Miyamoto is credited on both games for directly working on them, and it wouldn't exist without Nintendo. I don't think I could be persuaded to add this to the list.

 

[wazoo]

FWIW since I've been name-called, here's a list of non-budgetware/non-shovelware third party Wii exclusives, or multiplatform games where the Wii version could conceivably be the one to get based on unique / exclusive features:

The Conduit 2 - February 2011
TrackMania Wii - February 2011

...

And the possibilities for distant support, titles to be localized, etc:
The Kore Gang - out in EU, no publisher in US, unlikely to come to US

Just to nitpick, Trackmania is out in EU.

This put even more shame to list of future releases for the Wii.

 

[Stumpokapow]

Just to nitpick, Trackmania is out in EU.

Yeah, I thought about mentioning that. It was supposed to be out in NA months ago but it suffered some weird last minute delays.

 

[infinityBCRT]

Graphs normally are just a bunch of cold data, but this one is different, just look that beautifull curves, a work of art.

Whats the source of the numbers for MS/Sony? The whole entertainment division? Are they based on console sales?

 

[confuziz]

Just to nitpick, Trackmania is out in EU.

This put even more shame to list of future releases for the Wii.

What is your point? No matter what you guys say this thing will keep on selling to 110-120 million in the next few years. I mean, we are talking about the sales here since this is a SALES thread right?

 

[Gamecocks625]

Kind of crazy to see Sony go down in a blaze of glory after the good ol' years of the PS1 and PS2.

Looks like it's an Apple/Nintendo future with Microsoft taking the rest of Sony's pie.

 

[mclem]

Didn't Sega say the next Mario & Sonic won't be an Olympics offshoot?

If it isn't a platformer they're blowing a huge opportunity.

The possibilites are endless. I'll go for:

"Mario and Sonic at the Embassy World Snooker Championships".

 

[Dabanton]

you seem to have forgotten Kevin Butler's ads.

Indeed Sony were all over Kinect in the months before release and the Sony faithful followed the "pew pew" nonsense as well of course now nobody remembers doing that.

 

[Chris1964]

Didn't Sega say the next Mario & Sonic won't be an Olympics offshoot?

If it isn't a platformer they're blowing a huge opportunity.

Nintendo will never allow another company to develop a platformer with Mario.

 

[wrowa]

Nintendo will never allow another company to develop a platformer with Mario.

This already kind of happened 20 years ago.

 

[Gravijah]

This already kind of happened 20 years ago.

Hey, his statement still rings true! Hahaha.

 

[Stumpokapow]

What is your point? No matter what you guys say this thing will keep on selling to 110-120 million in the next few years. I mean, we are talking about the sales here since this is a SALES thread right?

Yes, sales. Including software sales. And what that means for support. And if third parties are making the right decisions or not. And what will drive new owners in the coming years.

The train of conversation was very clear here:
- Claim: "Third parties should pay more attention to the Wii on the basis of Epic Mickey / Just Dance 2 sales"
- Counter-Claim: "But they're not. Whether that's a good move or not, they simply aren't."
- The list, which is evidence used to evaluate the claim and counterclaim.

On the other hand, I'm not sure what your point is. The Wii is going to sell lots of hardware worldwide? Duh. Everyone knows that. Why repeat it? To remind the "Wii haters" how "pwnt" they are?

 

[Baki]

Kind of crazy to see Sony go down in a blaze of glory after the good ol' years of the PS1 and PS2.

Looks like it's an Apple/Nintendo future with Microsoft taking the rest of Sony's pie.

lol

 

[Celine]

I must be reading this wrong.


Or maybe Sony did indeed lose all its treasure chests it gathered from 1994 to 2006 when the PlayStation 3 started to sink.

edit : there must be something wrong though : Nintendo has probably earned a lot more than 2 billions and something with the GB, the NES and the SNES or maybe even the N64 from 1983 onwards.

edit 2 : are the numbers inajusted to inflation ?

"since FY/E 1998" ;-)

And numbers should be unadjusted for inflation.

Whats the source of the numbers for MS/Sony? The whole entertainment division? Are they based on console sales?

Entertainment division in the case of MS and Sony, entire Nintendo for Nintendo ( basically they do only videogames ).

Source ( compiled by Psychotext from manufacturers' own financial reports ):
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=370257&page=2

Maroikart is simple, fun, easy to get into and if you work with it you'll master it. It really the predecessor to Smash in concept.

Also those posts comparing GT to Mariokart. From my understanding Mariokart was either the best selling GCN or one of the best. Officially it outsold Melee but I'm not sure if it counts bundles.

Source?
Melee LTD is 7 million and I thought it was the best selling GCN game.

 

[zigg]

Yeah, I thought about mentioning that. It was supposed to be out in NA months ago but it suffered some weird last minute delays.

Publisher switch, from Dreamcatcher to City.

At the moment I remain unconvinced City is going to follow through, but we'll see.

 

[confuziz]

Yes, sales. Including software sales. And what that means for support. And if third parties are making the right decisions or not. And what will drive new owners in the coming years.

The train of conversation was very clear here:
- Claim: "Third parties should pay more attention to the Wii on the basis of Epic Mickey / Just Dance 2 sales"
- Counter-Claim: "But they're not. Whether that's a good move or not, they simply aren't."
- The list, which is evidence used to evaluate the claim and counterclaim.

On the other hand, I'm not sure what your point is. The Wii is going to sell lots of hardware worldwide? Duh. Everyone knows that. Why repeat it? To remind the "Wii haters" how "pwnt" they are?

Nintendo doesn't care about them (3rd party software sales), they will get their money anyways, so why should we care?

I think making a list like that was just to show the Wii only gamers how screwed they are atm if they want non-nintendo games this year.
Also, the dumbest people in the world could have guessed that was going to happen, so why the need to show it?

 

[Pureauthor]

Nintendo doesn't care about them (3rd party software sales), they will get their money anyways, so why should we care?

Nonsense.

A company's goal is not to make a profit, it's to maximise profit. The dearth of 3rd party games and sales has demonstrably hurt the Wii in terms of how long it can remain a viable platform on the market worldwide, and Nintendo did not want that to happen.

The Wii is selling well, but it's not selling as well as it could be, and that's what matters to Nintendo.

 

[confuziz]

Nonsense.

A company's goal is not to make a profit, it's to maximise profit. The dearth of 3rd party games and sales has demonstrably hurt the Wii in terms of how long it can remain a viable platform on the market worldwide, and Nintendo did not want that to happen.

The Wii is selling well, but it's not selling as well as it could be, and that's what matters to Nintendo.

The 3DS is coming and I'm sure they got their new console ready as well. I don't think they care too much really.

 

[Stumpokapow]

Nintendo doesn't care about them (3rd party software sales), they will get their money anyways, so why should we care?

Because this is for discussion of all aspects of the industry, not just the Nintendo enclave? We get to discuss what companies are doing, why they are doing it, if they should be doing something differently, why they should be doing something differently. It's possible for a company to be doing very well but still make mistakes. Despite Nintendo not caring about 3rd party sales, they sure do seem to issue a ton of mea culpas about not getting 3rd parties onboard. Hmmm.

I think making a list like that was just to show the Wii only gamers how screwed they are atm if they want non-nintendo games this year.

I just explained the point of "making the list". To respond to a direct thread of conversation where I got Beetlejuiced into posting it.

You can read what you want from the list. That's the actual, factual third party exclusive support this year. Some Wii fans would read "Fucking third parties are straight up stupid" into the list and view it as empowering their case that third parties are missing the boat and should do more on the Wii. They might even juxtapose the Epic Mickey / Just Dance 2 sales with this list and shake their head at the insanity. Detractors would suggest that, regardless of sales, the Wii lineup is going to be pretty barren this year if Nintendo doesn't pull rabbits out of hats. There's something for everyone. I don't have an agenda here.

Also, the dumbest people in the world could have guessed that was going to happen, so why the need to show it?

Look, if you think I have an angle (which presumably based on the degree to which you're pressing me on this, would be some sort of anti-Wii pro-Sony angle or something), go ahead and call me out on it instead of beating around the bush.

 

[confuziz]

Look, if you think I have an angle (which presumably based on the degree to which you're pressing me on this, would be some sort of anti-Wii pro-Sony angle or something), go ahead and call me out on it instead of beating around the bush.

Fine, but it sure looked like it. The year has just started and a lot of (3rd party) games can be announced if for instance nintendo lowers the price to 180 dollars/euros and the interest in the console gets renewed somehow. I wouldn't say it's over yet, and that post seems to imply it is.

 

[HocusPocus]

Hrmm. The losses for Microsoft are about what they make in profit each quarter. Looks like they getting better with all their entertainment products over the last 4 years. Xbox 360 is a money maker so I'm not sure what's still holding down their profits.

 

[sfog]

Yeah, I thought about mentioning that. It was supposed to be out in NA months ago but it suffered some weird last minute delays.

I think Trackmania Wii recently got pushed back again, most likely some time into Q2, because I got an email from Amazon cancelling my long-standing preorder about a week ago, noting something like "We don't have a confirmed date for this from our suppliers."

Also, The Kore Gang was ESRB rated a while ago, with Pixonauts KG listed as the publisher. Perhaps they want to self-publish it?

 

[Nemo]

http://i55.tinypic.com/95wwi1.png[IMG]

Graphs normally are just a bunch of cold data, but this one is different, just look that beautifull curves, a work of art.[/QUOTE]I've known it before but it really is genius how Nintendo has always been cashing it in so hard during the N64 and GC days

 

[MrNyarlathotep]

I've known it before but it really is genius how Nintendo has always been cashing it in so hard during the N64 and GC days

Arguably.

It's also arguable that global corporations with multiple revenue streams don't need to act so conservatively on any one aspect of their business, as they can cross subsidize with other divisions, whereas Nintendo has never had that luxury.

 

[Captain Tuttle]

Hrmm. The losses for Microsoft are about what they make in profit each quarter. Looks like they getting better with all their entertainment products over the last 4 years. Xbox 360 is a money maker so I'm not sure what's still holding down their profits.

Zune, Kin Phone etc. Who would have thought a couple of years ago that the 360 would be keeping that division from collapsing?

 

[wazoo]

The 3DS is coming and I'm sure they got their new console ready as well. I don't think they care too much really.

Just Dance (1+2) sold 10M copies this year. This is 100M$ of royalties, so free money, in Nintendo pocket, and more or less 10% of their annual profit. No, they care about 3rd parties selling on their platform.